DENTAL CARIES PREVALENCE IN CHILDREN 15 AND 16 YEARS OF AGE IN THREE IDAHO COMMUNITIES

¹ Department of Home Economics Research, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho

Dental examinations, including posterior bite-wing x-ray films, are reported for 215 children 15 and 16 years of age in three Idaho communities: Coeur d'Alene, Boise, and Nampa, with 0.0, 0.5, and 1.5 ppm fluorides, respectively, in their municipal water supplies.

The subjects who were continuous urban residents of Nampa averaged 24 per cent fewer DMF teeth, including x-ray findings, than the corresponding Boise group, but with the number of subjects available for this study the difference was not statistically significant. The average caries prevalence for the Coeur d'Alene group was more than twice that of the Boise and Nampa groups and was higher than for any comparable group reported in the literature. In addition to the lack of fluorides in the water, other factors which may be involved in the severe dental health problem in the Coeur d'Alene area are the lack of minerals in the water and soil and climatic conditions.

Nearly one-half of the total number of carious teeth for each group of subjects were found by x-ray examination. Of the total number of proximal caries observed, the percentages found by x-ray examination varied from 52 per cent for the Coeur d'Alene group to 92 per cent for the Nampa group. However, the percentage by which the average number of DMF teeth for each group of subjects was increased by the inclusion of x-ray findings varied only from 15 to 21 per cent. The relative differences in the caries prevalence of the subjects in the three communities were practically unchanged by the inclusion or omission of x-ray findings.